Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Back in the Burning Crusade era, there seemed to be a wide variety of ways one could build a Holy Paladin. Some players went Holy/Prot, others Holy/Ret, and still others Holy/Prot/Ret (I myself used a 47/7/7 build). However, since Wrath of the Lich King launched, it seems that two Holy builds have become dominant: the Holy Kings build (51/5/15) and the Holy Critadin build (51/0/18 + 2 points wherever). The primary difference between these to builds boils down to just 5 points. The Holy Kings build spends these 5 points in Blessing of Kings and Improved Blessing of Kings, and the Holy Critadin build spends 3 points in Sanctified Seals and has 2 points left over. These 2 points can be invested in a variety of different talents, but for the sake of this post, we'll invest them in Improved Blessing of Wisdom. So, ultimately, our trees will look something like this: Holy Kings (51/5/15) and Holy Critadin with Wisdom (53/0/18). (As a side note, choice between Improved Judgements and Improved Blessing of Might in tier 2 of Retribution is irrelevant, and either build can take either talent).

So, with the above 2 builds being the most dominant, the question of which is better will almost invariably arise. As the issue was brought up by a supporter of the Holy Kings build, and I myself favor the Holy Critadin with Wisdom build, I figured I would stack the deck in favor of the Holy Kings build and see when it would surpass the Holy Critadin with Wisdom build. Since Intellect is now one of the most valuable mana regeneration stats for Paladins (thanks to Divine Plea, Replenishment, and other mana restoration abilities that scale based on total mana, such as Mana Tide Totem) and Blessing of Kings added stats scale based on gear, whereas Blessing of Wisdom remains a static bonus, the former will certainly overtake the latter at some point. The question deals with where exactly that point is, and whether or not it is obtainable. Now, on with the post!

Since INT will increase by 10% with BoK, we can conclude that the mana regeneration of the above will also increase by 10% with BoK, since they scale with INT. Thus, they would yield an additional mp5 of:

Now, even if you stack full INT and have access to all obtainable gear, items, item enhancements, and buffs, you'd still be hard pressed getting to 1916 INT.

As I see it, Blessing of Wisdom allows me to worry less about mana regeneration stats and instead focus on stats that give me a bit better return, such as haste and spellpower. Blessing of Kings, while nice, still functions best when you stack base stats. Don't get me wrong—it can certainly be a life-saver when the extra health, dodge, armor, crit, etc. etc. it provides means the difference between life and death, but that extra mana regeneration from Blessing of Wisdom can also prove to be the difference between a victory and a wipe.

Ultimately, I think my biggest issue with Blessing of Kings is probably that I still see it as a buff which essentially works to mitigate the effect of bad luck, whereas Blessing of Wisdom does more to allow you to play at your best. I can't speak for anyone else, but personally, I'd rather be good than lucky.